A Friend That Screwed Him Over, Literally
by StolenSecrets
Summary: Did Zack know that his words hurt him? He pretended to be angry, but Zack knew him. There was no way Zack didn't know exactly what he was doing. Cloud missed his friend, but he couldn't bring himself to accept the fact that Zack was attracted to him.
1. He Hated The Man

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter one: He Hated him!

A chauvinistic song played in the background of the club. Well, Cloud imagined that it was a chauvinistic song. Tifa would go on about it for hours and she was normally right when it came to those strange feminist words that his male brain couldn't understand. She said that this particular song fell along the chauvinistic lines of womanizing, and blaming the woman for the ruined relationship. He didn't see a problem with blaming a woman for a failed relationship and being suicidal as a result was something he could understand. Sometimes beautiful women were cruel, crazy, and completely irresistible. Cloud had plenty of experience in the department of beautiful women, and every relationship he had supported the theory that they were all psychotic.

Women were sometimes the bane of Cloud's existence. He'd never had a relationship that didn't end with some sort of violent, unpleasant break up. In the case of his relationship with Tifa, well, that ended with a very nasty divorce, unpleasant court drama, and annoying press coverage. Cloud thought it was reasonable to blame Tifa for the end of their marriage. Yes, at times their home wasn't exactly the most peaceful, what with their very loud screaming matches, but their relationship had been mostly stable throughout their six year marriage.

That is, it was stable until he figured out that she was sleeping around. When she finally stopped hiding it and told him about it, she seemed shocked that he'd already drawn up the divorce papers. Did she really expect him to not find out? Did she expect him to ignore it for the sake of their public image? It wasn't like she expected breaking the news that she had been screwing his female secretary for two years was going to go over well, right? Did she seriously expect him to forgive that?

Cloud was sitting in the back of the club drinking copious amounts of alcohol and wondering how he'd let Yuffie drag him there with his ex-wife and ex-secretary, his best friend from high school, and a bunch of people he didn't know. She had said that he was annoying her with all his sulking and had forced him there. Now he was sitting at the bar wondering what the fuck he was supposed to be doing. Seriously, why the hell was he there getting drunk instead of dancing with all the other beautiful people around the room?

Oh yeah, because he couldn't dance and was "too busy being a depressed workaholic butthead to live a little." At least that's what his most recent ex-girlfriend Vanessa claimed. Cloud just couldn't understand women for the life of him. He'd only ever been in a serious relationship with four women, one out of four became a lesbian, and two out of four turned into psychotic bitches. His most recent ex-girlfriend thought he was sleeping with her best friend because of the way he smiled at her. It was a normal smile! It was!

Another drink that he hadn't ordered was set in front of him by the bartender. Cloud didn't mind that much. He wanted as much alcohol as he could get. Today was going to be his splurge day. He made it a habit to get completely, hopelessly drunk once a month.

"Who was it this time?" Cloud asked Sora, the bartender, "Let me guess the creep by the door who's been staring at me for the last twenty minutes."

"Jeez, it's creepy how many guys have bought you drinks today. You've got the best luck. I've got a man but my god! I wish I had as many suitors as you do. You've beaten my record and you haven't even gone on the dance floor yet!"Sora pouted.

"Well I'd gladly switch places with you. Why is it that all the gay guys are attracted to me and none of the straight, preferably sane, women?" Cloud complained. He ran his hand through his hair and gave Sora an exasperated look. He guessed that he should have been used to it by now, but it still annoyed the hell out of him. Couldn't people recognize a straight man anymore? Did these men think that if they got him drunk enough he wouldn't realize that they had a dick?

"I don't know maybe it's the beautiful blue eyes, hot blonde hair, baby face, and hot body?" A voice purred in his ear from behind.

Cloud jumped and whipped around to face the black-haired, blue-eyed man who was most likely going to molest him in a few moments. Cloud knew who it was before he'd turned around. He'd never forget that voice and the memory of the tone that was used made him shudder. It was hard to tell if he was shuddering from fear, revulsion, or something else that he really didn't want to admit he could feel.

"Zack," Cloud said with an aggravated sigh. "Go away!"

He turned back around to the bar and waved away the accusing look that adorned Sora's face. He was probably wondering why the hell he was letting himself be harassed by some random stranger when he wouldn't even let his small friend give him a hug. Cloud didn't want to have to explain Zack's presence so he made his usual gesture of 'Sora you had better go away in the next few minutes or you'll have a foot up your ass.' Sora, having a good sense of self preservation, did as Cloud had non-verbally commanded him to do, and disappeared to serve other men and women at the bar.

"Yes, It's Zack." Zack replied into his ear, forcing the hairs at the back of Cloud's neck to stand up, "I won't go away just because you say so. I'm not as obedient as that bartender."

Cloud wanted to curse at the fact that Zack had figured that out. How was it that Zack could still see right through him? He decided ignoring the man would be his best course of action besides walking away, which was something he didn't want to do because it would deny him direct access to alcohol.

"I see you're here with a bunch of women, you never change do you?" Zack asked into his ear. Cloud felt him leaning into his back and knew that in a few moments Zack was going to drape his arms around his shoulders. Zack had done this before, Cloud knew the routine. After Cloud denied Zack's invasion of his personal space the man would make a reckless comment in a sexy voice that would hurt Cloud's pride. Violence would ensue. Cloud found himself really hoping Zack would just back off and maybe even sit down at the stool next to him. Cloud wanted his friend back, if Zack just backed off and had a friendly conversation ages ago things would have been much different.

"Zack! Stop purring in my ear! It's annoying." Cloud muttered irritably. He secretly hoped the man would listen to him for once. He didn't want to deal with this. It'd been forever since he'd had a friend like Zack. In fact, he hadn't had a friend like him at all after they'd broken contact.

That made him begin to wonder why he hadn't left the bar as soon as his ex-friend had shown up. What the hell was he doing there anyways? He knew the way this was going to go why was he hoping that it would turn out different? Why was Zack even doing this to him again? Didn't moving halfway across the world and not leaving a forwarding address get the message across? He was fed up with Zack's gamed. Zack knew that Cloud didn't _ever _want to see him again, right?

"Seriously man, you're hot and cute at the same time. Of course everyone who bats for my team would be aiming for you."

"Seriously Zack, stop flirting with me, that's the whole reason I've been avoiding you for the last nine and a half years." Cloud said more forcefully. A few seconds later, he downed the drink the silver haired guy in the corner ordered for him in one sip banishing thoughts of giving Zack a chance at friendship as he did so. _He doesn't deserve a second chance after everything that he's done, _Cloud thought as he lifted the empty glass towards the mysteriously familiar stranger with a nod. The man nodded back. Cloud decided that he'd have to give up easy access to alcohol in exchange for an escape from his friend.

"That's hot." Zack muttered quietly to himself, and Cloud wondered what the heck he could be referring to. What was hot about downing a shot?"Wait a minute! Did you just say you've been avoiding me for all these years? I thought we just got out of touch! Ouch! I'm wounded!" Zack cried theatrically, his tone made it obvious that he knew that Cloud had been avoiding him, and that he didn't really care. His bitter tone almost hurt Cloud, but then he came to the conclusion that Zack couldn't have the satisfaction of hurting him. They were best friends but Zack had selfishly decided to throw it all away because he couldn't keep it in his pants.

"And here I thought you were avoiding me because of that one night stand we had graduation day." Zack wrapped his arm around Cloud's chest and whispered huskily into his ear, "After all you're supposedly straight. But, you know, the night where I fucked you till you screamed for more, begs to differ."

Cloud pulled Zack's arms off of him, ignoring the slightly pleasant sensation he'd gotten from the friendly contact and got up from his bar tool. He violently pushed his stool into Zack's stomach and turned to walk away quickly. That comment, as usual, had stung. Zack had made comments just as bad, and sometimes worse in the past and yet they still had the power to hurt Cloud. Did Zack know that they hurt him? He pretended to be angry, but Zack knew him. There was no way Zack didn't know exactly what he was doing.

That infuriated Cloud the most. He always found himself hoping that maybe, just maybe, today would be the day that the Zack he knew would come back. He never did, instead he made some cruel comment that had Cloud reeling.

Cloud cursed himself for falling back into the old pattern. He knew that something like that was going to happen. Why had he waited so long to walk away from his old friend? Could it be that he had actually missed the bastard. Just the thought of admitting that to himself infuriated the blonde as he crossed the dance floor and headed towards his friends.

"Hey wait! Cloud!", Zack was following him. _Probably so he could say something worse or grab my ass_, Cloud thought bitterly.

Cloud ignored the man and started to get even more pissed off. The man had taken advantage of him after he'd broken up with Aerith twelve years ago on graduation day. The abrupt end to his loving relationship with Aerith had left Cloud wounded. So of course he got drunk with his best friend, right? As usual he trusted that Zack would look after him.

Big mistake. Something had happened to make that night different from their usual drunken nights of escapism.

Instead of the usual wake up on the couch with a vicious hangover situation, Cloud found himself waking up beside Zack the next day. They were both naked and Cloud had a killer head ache, a sore ass, and some disturbing half memories made vague by vodka, whiskey, and tequila. Cloud was angry betrayed, seriously confused, and pressured by memories of his homophobic upbringing. He grabbed his clothes and left before Zack woke up. The next day the two of them had a screaming match and their once indestructible friendship shattered into a million pieces.

Cloud never wanted to see Zack again, but unfortunately he found himself going to the same college for three years as the most hated enemy of his best friend. The two of them found themselves waging little proxy wars based on 'harmless' pranks. Occasionally, Zack confronted Cloud and asked to repair their friendship. Every time that happened Cloud called him a selfish bastard and told him to go fuck himself. Zack normally responded with a pithy response about Cloud being the submissive one, which normally got him punched.

Cloud loathed him by the end of their freshman year at college and started to save up the money for a transfer that summer. He finally had enough money after three years of the 'Zack and Cloud Cold War', as Reno entitled their little feud. Cloud finished his schooling in the big city, as far away from Zack as possible. Of course, he didn't keep contact and forgot about Zack as best as you could forget a best friend who betrayed you and fucked you over. Literally.

Cloud found it funny that now that he'd been without a friend for a few years he could find it in him to forgive Zack. He found it ironic that once he was able to forgive his friend Zack was even more of an ass before. Maybe they were destined to be that way? Maybe it suited them? One was ready to forgive and the other was a complete asshole.

Cloud couldn't believe Zack had found him in a city as huge as Edge. It was obvious that Zack had been looking for him. The pessimistic part of him made him think that it was only so that he could screw with him and play his fun little mind games. His optimistic side made him hope that it was so that they could repair their friendship.

And that pissed him off. He _hated_ Zack. He hated his voice, and the way it was lowered into a sexy drawl when he whispered into his ear. He hated his muscles and his broad shoulders because they were stronger and more attractive than his own. The only time he ever found himself admiring his friend was when he was comparing himself to him and finding himself wanting. He felt small in Zack's presence, immasculated, weak, and feminine. Zack pissed him off.

As he was inwardly fuming, listing in his head all the things he hated about the way Zack made him feel, Zack grabbed his shoulder. He then pulled the blonde into his chest and started to say some intelligible thing in his ear. Cloud didn't care, because as soon as Zack had touched him he snapped. That was when he found himself turning around and punching Zack square in the nose. Cloud relished the sound of his nose crunching beneath his fist.


	2. It's Something He Would Do

Chapter Two: It's Something He Would Do

He waited in place for a few seconds, just enough time to hear Zack's yelp of pain and his ingenious epithet of "Shit!" Then turned back around and completed his trek towards the girls who'd dragged him to the club where the gods decided to rub all his sins in his face. He was unbelievably angry, but couldn't help but smile on the way to his friends. Hurting Zack had lifted a huge weight from his shoulders, and Cloud almost started humming happily to himself. Almost, but his pride wouldn't let him.

"Wow, Cloudy nice left hook there!" Yuffie said with a bounce, "Was that another asshole forcing himself on you?"

"Yeah, he was just another asshole." Cloud muttered as he slid in beside her and stole her drink.

"Hey!" Yuffie cried and hit his arm lightly, "You ungrateful prick I gave you a ride and dragged your ass to this fun and you repay me by stealing my drink?"

"Oh, well, you know you love me." Cloud said with his sexiest smile as he leaned back and draped his arm around her shoulders.

"Cloud you have to pick up some beautiful girl and take her home! You need a good one night stand to get you over Vanessa!" Aerith cried from across the booth where Tifa was hanging all over Karmen, his ex-secretary.

"Sorry Aerith, I know you feel guilty for setting me up with a raving lunatic who tore apart my apartment, but I think I'm going to die celibate. I think that with my track record it'd be best for me, and my dick, to stay away from women." Cloud said.

"Ewww Cloud seriously!" Yuffie cried.

"Hey, you can mention your breasts and I can't mention my unmentionables?" Cloud said with an arched eyebrow as he considered the writhing bodies under the blue and pink lights of the dance floor. He was trying to assure himself that Zack had disappeared, but he knew that there was no way he'd be able to find the man in the mass of bodies.

"Back to the subject at hand, please? Cloud I'm not going to let you mope around! At least try to find someone to dance with? You never know it might turn out well. A relationship would be good for you, you aren't getting any younger you know." Aerith said in a smooth sympathetic voice.

"The only women that I've slept with more than once have either A-Turned into lesbians, B- Turned psycho as soon as another women even looked at me, C- all of the above, or D- died. I think that it's okay for me to take a break from the dating scene, Aerith." Cloud said with a pointed look towards the exit that sent the message '_if you mention women one more time I'm leaving'._

Aerith was about to say more when she was interrupted by a blonde guy with a faux hawk and a tray of drinks coming to their table.

"Hey, guys! I bring party favors! Can I sit down and chat?" He chirped energetically, with only a tinge of nerves.

"Sure, be my guest!" Yuffie said with a predatory grin, a cute guy with all the proper body parts was approaching her table and she was not about to let him escape.

"Go ahead." Aerith said.

"Hmmmm yeah sure," came a muffled reply from Tifa and Karmen's side of the booth. Cloud looked in their direction and started to feel vaguely sick as his ex-wife flipped her hair in his direction and dove in for another kiss. With a woman. It hurt that one of the two women Cloud had ever truly loved betrayed him for another woman.

Cloud's heart was still broken, and he knew it showed on his face as he gazed across the room at his beloved wife. They had been married for such a long time, and she seemed to be completely unfazed by their break up. It made him wonder if she had ever truly loved him or if she was just after his money. He was depressed and his rebound had been a psychopath, while her relationship following the divorce had been everlasting. It stung his pride to know that he was the only one truly injured by their relationship. It totally figured that he'd be the one left behind.

As Cloud drifted away in his thoughts the boy with the bad hair and bad seventies band shirt slid into the booth beside him.

"Hey, um, you're Cloud right?" The boy asked.

"What? Yeah sorry about that, man. I was out there for a minute, yeah I'm Cloud. That's Tifa, Karmen with a K, Yuffie, and Aerith. Thanks for the drinks. Wait how'd you know my name?" He said after he pointed out each girl and pulled the entire tray towards him.

"I'm Demyx. Uh, a friend told me about you. Wait a minute do you plan on drinking that entire tray?" The kid said with a bewildered look.

"Yes I do. No it won't kill me. No I'm not drunk yet." Cloud responded as he quickly knocked back three shots.

"Jeez man, do you really have that high of an alcohol tolerance?"

"No, mako does. I fell into a natural vein of the stuff in a place called Nibelheim. I popped up on the outskirts of Edge. It does funky stuff to the body. It takes enough morphine to kill a whale to get me even a little numb…. Not to mention high." Cloud said with a dazed look.

"Jeez Cloud information overload much?" Yuffie cried out and punched him again.

"Ow, I'm trying to scare him off. Could you stop hitting me please?" Cloud said without looking at her and turning to Demyx.

"So, let me guess the guy I just punched sent you over here to plead my case right?" Cloud knew Zack wasn't going to just walk away. He was going to try to pull something. The thought of the return of their cute little college revenge games made Cloud want to get smashed. He didn't want to be able to tell up from down by the end of the night.

"How'd you know! Are you psychic?" Demyx looked freaked out and Cloud gave him a creepy smile.

"I know things." He said through smirking lips, it was going to be fun to mess with Zack's little friend.

"Oh Gaia! Ignore that, there's always a rational explanation he's just trying to freak you out." Aerith said, "One time, Cloud told me that I'd lost my watch. I pulled back my sleeve and found it missing. He pointed to the guy across from the conference room and told me he was a safe bet for the culprit. Cloud hadn't been in the room when said man had bumped into me so I asked him how he knew it was him. Cloud said that the guy was looking around nervously, rubbing his breast pocket, and that he'd seen the guy skip out on an office meeting to get high a few months before. Logical reasoning is why Cloud's the head of a very powerful company."Aerith said, and Cloud wondered why she was giving the guy his life story. He kind of wanted the kid to go away, and he really just wanted to leave the club, and go home. There, at least, he could get drunk without prying eyes.

"Jeez that's cool I wish I was as smart as him." Demyx said, and Cloud was surprised to find genuine awe in his voice.

"No you don't. If you were, then you wouldn't be able to read and would have to have a secretary read every legal document to you until you had to fire her because you got tired of having her voice drone on and on and on into your ear." Cloud said as he drank two more shots.

"Seriously? You can't read?" Demyx said. "But I've read magazine articles that herald you as a genius!"

"Ah so you know all about me? Why don't you stop making small talk and tell my why Zack sent you over here?"Cloud said with a frown.

"Okay well, honestly to tell the truth Zack didn't send me over here. I wanted to meet you because Zack never stops talking about his best friend from the country side. He never mentioned that you couldn't read though. I wonder why?" Demyx said with a thoughtful expression.

"It's just something he wouldn't do. He probably thought it was my secret to tell."

"Oh right, I guess that's it. He doesn't tell other people's secrets! It's really annoying when he refuses to tell me what Sephiroth is thinking."

"Sephiroth's here?" Cloud asked with a disbelieving look and a worried glance around the room.

"What? NO! God no, Sephiroth wouldn't come to a place like this! He's too classy!" Demyx cried.

"Hah, figures. I thought hell was freezing over for a minute there." Cloud said with a relieved sigh.

"Hey wait a minute who's Sephiroth? Who's Zack?" Yuffie interrupted with a bewildered look and a threatening glare at Cloud. Cloud wanted to glare back, but didn't because it would endanger his tough guy façade.

"Zack is the asshole I punched. Sephiroth is an old friend, or enemy, it was never very clear whether he hated me or like me." Cloud explained with an exasperated sigh and an almost childish glare in Yuffie's direction.

"He's mysterious like that. I still haven't figured that out either." Demyx said happily and gave a bright smile. "I don't mind though, it's part of hiss charm."

"I'm getting more drinks. What do you guys want? Tifa, Yuffie, Aerith, Demyx? I'll return the favor these are on me." Cloud said abruptly. He was considering skipping out instead.

"Thanks! I'll go with you and help you carry the drinks back!" Yuffie exclaimed, and Cloud cursed at his foiled escape attempt. Yuffie probably knew that he was going to skip out on them and never bring them the drinks.

"We'll take anything." Aerith said with a gentle smile and a knowing look. He could tell that she was thinking, _Ha! Nice save Yuffie! He isn't going anywhere!_

"Great!" Cloud said with mock enthusiasm. Now he had to think of something and hope they liked it.

"Demyx?" Cloud asked.

"What? Oh I'm good thanks. Uh I'll get out of your way." He said with a nervous laugh as he slid out of the seat in order to let Cloud out.

"Ugh" Cloud said as he fought his way across the dance floor yet again.

"Hey! Cloud, WAIT UP!" Yuffie screamed from behind him as she failed miserably at fighting through the crowd because of her petite size. Cloud turned to the side and reached a hand out behind him so that she could grab it. He then tugged her to the bar. They reached it relatively unscathed, but Cloud swore that a few people had groped him. He flagged down Sora as soon as he got there, so that he'd be able to get the drinks relatively soon. With how busy the club was, he doubted he'd ever get the drinks.

"Hey, Sora, ummmmm three apple martinis, three shots of Jack, two beers, three shots of Jose, and three shots of vodka. Thanks. Oh and you might wanna put those on a tray?" Cloud said with a smile.

"No, I'm gonna make you carry them all over individually!" Sora said sarcastically.

"Hey! You finally learned sarcasm! Cloud, did you teach him or was it Riku?" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Cloud," Sora said at the same time that Cloud said "Riku."

"Ooooooo this is gonna be a fun debate!" Yuffie said, "I'll have to bring it back to the table. The rivalry between Cloud and Riku continues. Over something as simple as Sora's new use of sarcasm, too! Shame, Shame."

"Ugh. Great" Cloud groaned, dreading the torture that would ensue. The girls had always been arguing about who was a better match for Sora, the supposedly straight Cloud, or the openly gay Riku. The fact that the two men hated each others guts fueled the girls imaginary rivalry and led to some not so fun situations where they tried to get them to get along. A Mistletoe kiss at gunpoint was one of the more traumatic results for Cloud.

"Well, it looks like you want to end up in an alcoholic coma by the end of the day, but…" Sora shrugged "Here's your drinks, Cloud. Sorry about Yuffie." Sora said with a very unapologetic smile.

"It's okay. Glad you gave me a tray." He said sarcastically. He gave Sora a mischeivous grin as he ducked his friend's attempt to hit him in the head.

"Get away you annoying old man!" Sora cried.

"Old man! I swear, ungrateful interlopers who crash on my couch for months! What do you do with them?" Cloud exclaimed in mock outrage as he walked away. Yuffie chased after him and sqwuaked indignantly at being left behind.


	3. Finally Drunk

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure the owner of Final Fantasy VII wouldn't freak out and think they're dying when they have their first ever nosebleed. Therefore, I, a woman unfortunate enough to suffer a monster of all colds and to have inappropriately mixed pseudafed and mucinex, am not that owner.**

**Warnings: Not much plot progression, not very well proofread. Oh, well, like I said I've got a KILLER COLD!**

Finally Drunk

Cloud made an unpleasant discovery when he made his way back towards his table for a second time that evening. Zack was sitting at his table. He was on the outside, beside Demyx. That was where Cloud was going to have to sit. As soon as he saw the black haired man chatting it up with Aerith, as if it was just yesterday that they had been best friends, Cloud started plotting ways to escape and get safely drunk at home.

When Cloud realized that none of his plans would work because of the short hyperactive ninja girl walking beside him, he decided that he'd just have to settle for arranging it so that he was as far away from Zack as possible.

"Hey, Yuffie," Cloud said as he grabbed Yuffie's hand and dragged her towards him. "Can you slide into the booth before me? The asshole I punched earlier is sitting beside Demyx."

"Sure! He's hot!" Yuffie said with an excited whoot.

They reached the booth yet again and Cloud slammed the drinks on the table, before sliding into the booth beside Yuffie. He ignored the man who sat on the opposite side of her and was grateful that Yuffie decided to start up a new conversation before Zack could say anything to piss Cloud off.

"Guess what? We have a new debate about to start! Who taught Sora how to use sarcasm? Riku or Cloud?" Yuffie cried in excitement. Her favorite means of sowing discord throughout their little group's interactions were these "debates" of hers. The last debate had lead to a little "alcohol war" or drinking game in order to see which of the two divorcees at the table could hold their liquor better. Cloud had won, but both he and Tifa had gotten so sloshed that they would have considered getting remarried in Vegas if one of their party had suggested it. Luckily, no one had, and they were spared from an alcohol induced shotgun wedding.

"Cloud!" Aerith said with a smile. Whenever it came to it, she always voted for Cloud. "I thought that we'd decided that Cloud is the better man in the Riku or Cloud debate?"

"You only say that because he's the straight one." Tifa said disinterestedly, finally deciding it was time to stop eating her girlfriend's lungs.

"Oh I forgot, you think Karmen wins the 'who-is-the-better-man-debate'." Yuffie said scathingly, she had never gotten along well with Tifa. After her part in the disaster with Cloud's life had turned into, Yuffie had made it her business to make the other woman's life miserable. Cloud always found the two women's rivalry amusing. He appreciated Yuffie's loyalty to him, but everyone knew that he was never going to view her as anything but a friend.

"Ouch Yuffie, I thought you'd gotten over that." Tifa said in a tone that suggested she didn't really care whether Yuffie approved of her relationship.

"Oh, really? How could I get over a skank who divorced Cloudy for his secretary?" Yuffie said angrily.

"Well, I did see her more than I saw him!" Tifa exclaimed defensively. It seemed her arrogant indifference was slightly perturbed by being called a skank. Good for her, everyone at the table secretly agreed with Yuffie's proclamation, the fact that she defended herself endeared them to their collective eyes.

"Okay new subject!" Cloud intervened. "Yuffie, I get that you're trying to defend me, but BACK OFF." Cloud said with an annoyed glance at Tifa, as if the whole argument was entirely her fault. HE knew it was childish of him but he kind of hoped that if he glared at her enough she'd take her girlfriend and go away, hopefully never to return.

"Woah, wait a minute! Cloud was married?" Zack interrupted. His voice betrayed only a little of the emotion that news produced in him. He tried to convince himself that the feelings he felt at hearing this news mostly consisted of anger, but if he was honest then he'd admit that a large majority of what he was feeling was just pain. Pain he felt because his best friend hadn't made him his best man, pain felt because the man he loved got married without telling him, pain felt because Cloud didn't acknowledge his presence and just glared across the table at Karmen.

"Yep, how do you know Cloudy?"Yuffie asked. She looked over at the attractive man sitting next to her and shot the best of her flirting abilities at him. When he gave her lusty look a distracted smile, she confused the cold expression in his eyes for interest. He was hot and even though she'd just seen the man approach her male best friend she couldn't believe that he wasn't into the ladies. It was just too much of a depressing thought to accept that this beautiful hunk of a man could be gay.

"Oh, Zack went to high school with the two of us." Aerith explained with a fond smile in Yuffie's direction. It always amused the quiet girl to see her friend throw herself at men. Aerith condoned Yuffie's promiscuous flirtation but if any of the men she flirted with took it too far they'd have to deal with the normally gentle brunette. She knew Zack was harmless, and therefore let Yuffie continue to make goo goo eyes at him.

"I have to say I was surprised that you were here, too, Aerith." Zack said, "Your relationship with Cloud didn't exactly end well. I didn't think you'd follow him to the big city." Zack's smile was a bit wicked and it got on Cloud's nerves. _Why the fuck did he bring that up? Probably pay back for not being informed about my marriage,_ Cloud thought angrily, he really wanted to wipe that grin off of the other man's face.

"Well, Zack, I came here for my career, but Cloud has always been a good friend of mine." Aerith said. "It's been that way forever, before and after our attempt at a romantic relationship."

She knew that Zack was trying to push Cloud over the edge, and didn't approve of it. She knew their history and she knew what Zack's games were like. Unlike Zack, she also knew that Cloud wasn't in the emotional state to handle such games. Zack couldn't have known about Cloud's current depression, or the stress of his job. Zack couldn't have known that Cloud was so close to snapping. If it had taken her three years to discover it, then there was no way Zack could have figured out where that line that you just _did not cross_ was. She gave Zack a smile that clearly warned him to _back off if he knew what was good for him,_ but knew that Zack would just give her a shit eating grin and go back to pushing Cloud's buttons. At least she could say that she tried to warn the man.

"Woah wait a minute! You used to date Cloud?" Tifa exclaimed, she was clearly surprised by this turn in the conversation. "Maybe that had something to do with our marriage ending, huh, Cloud? What about your endless list of secrets?"

"Tifa, shut up, if anyone had secrets it was you. If you'd asked about my exes I would have listed them all, told you how deep the relationship was, how and why it ended, how good the sex was, the girl's positive traits, her negative traits, everything you wanted to know. If you'd ever bothered to ask then I would have told you my whole life story! I would have done anything for you! I thought the world of you so don't make my disappointment worse by being even more of a bitch." Cloud said defensively with a little bit more bitterness than her comment required. He wondered, not for the first time that night, why he'd agreed to go out with his ex-wife and their mutual friends. He should have known better. Now, because he didn't listen to the voice in his head that expressed his better judgment (he'd named that damned, sarcastic, know-it-all voice Vincent) he was stuck listening to her bitch while he tried to get happily drunk.

The rest of the table was extremely surprised at Cloud's declaration. The table was forced into an awkward and tense silence, every occupant, excluding Cloud, wearing their emotions on their faces. Tifa was shocked speechless, her mouth was left open like a fish and her gaping jaw moved up and down soundlessly as she struggled with what she wanted to say. Yuffie wore a complicated expression that couldn't be translated into English. A mixture of envy, anger, and other un-named emotions was expressed in an expression that was very disconcerting on the usually contently hyperactive girl. Aerith wore a sad expression, that was filled with the usual gentle, loving, and overall motherly way she viewed Cloud. Demyx looked like he couldn't figure out how he'd gotten stuck at their table with its possibly dangerously bipolar inhabitants. The only person whose expression was easily deciphered was Zack. Zack wore an angry expression. It was obvious the man was thinking things that no one but himself could understand. If he were asked why Cloud's declaration of unfailing loyalty angered him, he'd probably say it was jealousy. If he were asked why that anger was directed at Tifa, he'd say that it was because the bitch had tricked Cloud into saying such things. In reality Zack's angry expression masked the pain he felt upon hearing the pain Cloud masked behind bland expressions and harsh honesty.

Cloud was well on his way to getting drunk, but judging by the way his night was going his drunken stupor wasn't going to be pleasant. He'd finished the beer he'd bought for himself shortly after arriving at the table and had already started, again, on the tequila. The conversation between Aerith and Zack had made him down two of the clear shots. He'd downed the third after Tifa's accusation. He could practically feel Zack's theoretical puppy ears perk up on his head after his slightly slurred confession of his whipped role in his marriage. The man was probably cackling inside upon hearing the news, the sadistic bastard. He was oblivious to the damp mood he'd put the rest of the table into.

"Jeez, Cloud, How many drinks are you gonna have?" Zack asked. To Cloud, there was a bit of glee in his tone of voice, but to the rest of the table, Zack's concern was obvious.

"Wait, isn't that, like, your fifteenth shot tonight? How are you not dead drunk yet?" Zack added, honest confusion blatantly obvious in his incredulous tone of voice.

"I'll let Aerith answer that question. Or maybe Demyx, the guy you sent to spy on me, I explained it to him earlier." Cloud said in an indifferent tone of voice.

"Okay, okay, don't kill me for asking. What's gotten into you Cloud?" Zack said with a smile that expressed the fact that he knew exactly what was pissing Cloud off. And the fact that he was enjoying every minute he got to spend annoying the living hell out of the blonde.

"Yeah he's got a point. You were pretty cool earlier Cloud. Now you're all bitchy. This isn't much of a good first impression." Demyx said with a smile in Cloud's direction, he was attempting to lighten the mood by joking, but little did he know he was making it worse. Cloud was three quarters of the way to angry drunk mode and when Cloud was angry drunk there was no reasoning with the bitchy side that took over. The only person known to be able to put up with that person was sitting beside Demyx with a malicious glint in his eyes.

"Sorry Demyx, but I don't exactly want to get the third degree from a guy I just met." Cloud said, with an impatient sigh and glare that said 'shut up and back off.' Again, the only person who was able to handle that glare without shrinking away in fear was sitting beside Demyx practically giggling with glee at the blonde's behavior. _Apparently,_ Demyx thought, _Zack likes making Cloud bitchy and enjoys it when he lashes out against the innocent. Poor me! Gaia really sent the wrong guy for the job when it thought that I'd be able to live through being Zack Fair's best friend._

"Okay new subject." Demyx said after he'd managed to get his soul to reenter his body and stop cowering in the corner of the club. The awkward silence had not discontinued its grip upon the table and Demyx was starting to get creeped out by all the silent communication that was going on. The looks being shared around the table made Demyx feel definitively out of the loop. Zack and Tifa were staring at Cloud, Cloud was glaring at Karmen, Aerith was sighing in exasperation at the immature behavior of her companions, Yuffie was drooling over Zack, and Karmen was sure that she'd soon get to experience the feeling of being murdered by her drunk former made the decision to no longer let the silent communication continue, for there seemed to be a murder on its way, and wished desperately to find some sort of conversation that didn't lead to danger zones created by the overly dramatic people surrounding him.

"Uh what's your opinion on music? Cloud, Tifa, Aerith? I'm a musician. I play the guitar, sitar, and the trumpet. I sing a little but my voice isn't magic. I know Zack plays the bass and the bass guitar, oh, and he's the best drummer I've ever seen." Demyx started to ramble nervously.

"I'm afraid my relationship with music is tenuous at best." Aerith said, she at least, seemed grateful for Demyx's attempt at conversation. Demyx decided immediately, right there and then, that Aerith Gainsborough was an angel on earth, and proceeded to shoot her extremely gratuitous looks with his eyes. "I don't play anything, but I love listening to music. I'm not as obsessive as Cloud, though. He can't get in a car without turning on music. If he isn't driving, then he will wait exactly five seconds before he starts asking to turn on the stereo." She began giggling at Demyx's antics and could clearly see his inner-Demyx on his knees bowing down to her as if she were a divinity.

"Yeah, he gets really motion sick if there isn't music on to distract him." Yuffie said with a giggle, she found it hilarious that Cloud believed that music made his motion sickness go away.

"Hmmmm I always thought that was more psychological than anything." Tifa muttered. Cloud sighed exasperatedly. Just when they get to a subject that didn't very much have to involve him, Aerith forced the conversation in his direction. He couldn't get a break could he? Was it too much to ask to just be able to listen and get drunk, and not have to talk about anything? Cloud didn't like being forced to communicate in sentences that involved more than one syllable.

"Can we get back to the music? Tifa, don't you play something... the flute was it?" Cloud interrupted with a subtle attempt to get the conversation to be diverted away from himself.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you remembered. It was a hobby in Junior high. I haven't touched an instrument in years." Tifa said with a shocked almost touched expression, she hadn't known that Cloud had bothered to remember that about her.

"Neither have I." Cloud responded, and immediately realized that he should NOT have put his two cents in.

"Wait a minute you can't be serious, Cloud! You were a prodigy! There's no way you haven't touched an instrument in years." Zack burst out from the other side of Yuffie. He leaned around Yuffie to get a good look at Cloud. He sounded and looked genuinely shocked and outraged this time. That just annoyed Cloud more. Leave it to Zack to foil his attempts at keeping the conversation away from him. (Completely ignore the fact that he was the one who volunteered the information currently being debated) He really just wanted to be left alone. Why was he even bothering to be there again?

Cloud glared at Zack, hoping that he'd grow laser beams out of his eyes and incinerate his once best friend.

"Seriously? No way, dude, that's awesome!" Demyx exclaimed. "What instruments can you play?"

"Piano, guitar, bass, electric bass, cello, violin, viola, harp, trumpet, flute, the list goes on and on and on." Tifa sighed and rolled her eyes, she had a feeling that this conversation would lead back to Cloud. The way everything seemed to be about him had been one of the reasons she had been so unhappy in their marriage. Not a single conversation could go by before it started turning into Cloud this, Cloud that.

"Seriously?," Demyx asked and looked at Cloud hopefully. "Can we play together sometime?"

"No." Cloud replied shortly and immediately.

"Why not?," Demyx asked with a confused look addressed to those around him, he didn't have the ability to pick up the tone of finality in Cloud's statement.

"I'm busy. I run a company. I can't afford to get back into music. It has a pull on me that I can't avoid. It sucks me in and I can't get out. If I started playing again, everything else would fade into the background and my company would fall apart. People would lose jobs. I'd never walk away from that black hole." Cloud said with a faraway look on his face. He seemed to be lost in dark thoughts that no one in the room could understand. Not even Zack could comprehend the darkness that lay inside the blonde object of his deep rooted affection. Yuffie, Aerith, Tifa, and Karmen had long ago gotten used to Cloud's moments of psychopathic distraction and had given up on trying to understand them. Demyx, on the other hand, was scared shitless and began to realize just how dangerously crazy the people around him were. His expression was that of a blatantly spineless individual in a situation where the predator was just about to eat him alive. Zack looked only slightly disconcerted by Cloud's slightly demented behavior, as though he were perfectly used to his ex-best friend's 'moments'.

"That sounds kind of demented Cloud." Yuffie said giving him a strange look. Zack couldn't help but notice that she seemed used to Cloud's strange outbursts. It seemed Demyx was the only one at the table who was concerned with the blonde's behavior.

"Oh, I think I'm finally drunk." Cloud shrugged in response. He looked down and blinked confusedly at the empty shot glasses and beer bottles in front of him. He didn't seem to care about his expression at the moment and the awe on his face almost made him look like a baby chocobo that had seen the sky for the first time. The cuteness of the sullen blond's drunken moment made the tension at the table disappear immediately.

Aerith, Zack and Demyx started laughing at the blonde. Tifa just rolled her eyes at the comment and Yuffie stared at him like he'd grown three heads. Karmen's reaction wasn't of any importance and therefore won't be explained here.

"Aww Cloudy's so cute when he's drunk!" Zack said with a look that said a little something else. He looked like a predator whose prey had just fallen into his trap, a corrupt minister whose prayers had just been answered, and a bad cop whose arch nemesis gangster had just been put into the slammer.

"Ugh shut up Zack!" Cloud exclaimed. "Jeez I'm going home."He began to prepare to depart by putting all of the glasses he'd emptied onto the tray he'd carried over from the bar with Yuffie.

"Wait a minute! You can't drive!" Yuffie yelled in concerned disbelief at the blonde's abrupt proclamation of departure.

"I'm not an idiot Yuffie! I'm going to call a cab as soon as I get outside!" Cloud yelled and stood up. He prepared to start fighting his way through the crowd by straightening out his clothes. He was sick of dealing with those people he called friends, he felt no shame in leaving them hanging. He wouldn't have even been there if Yuffie hadn't promised to refrain from stealing his watches for a week.

"Ugh, Cloud's a whiny bitch when he's drunk. I'm so glad that it's ridiculously hard for that to happen." Yuffie whined as he finally walked away with just a little bit of a stagger.

"You never explained about that by the way." Zack said with a curious look on his face.

"Oh! Sorry about that, Zack." Aerith said with an apologetic smile.

"Oh anything's forgiven when it's you Aerith, baby." Zack said sweetly with a charming smile.

"You're flirting Zack. This is how you get cougars stalking you and etc. You flirt with anything that has two legs and a nice ass, despite the fact that you're GAY!" Demyx said, Yuffie, immediately squaked loudly at this information. Her loud melodramatic proclamations of "Noooooooo!" were ignored by the rest of the table, Tifa deigned to roll her eyes yet again. Yuffie then indignantly left the table to rush to the bathroom with the excuse, "I need to powder my nose", while everyone at the table, except maybe Zack, knew she was going to the bathroom to cry her eyes out. Oh the woes of hot gay men.

"Oh, God! DON'T mention Leona! She ruined all women for me." Zack said with a shudder. He stared at Yuffie's retreating back incredulously for a moment before discarding it as atypical of one of Cloud's undoubtedly psychotic friends. Aerith laughed at Zack's theatrics and Demyx's confused expression. Demyx was not wise enough to accept strange things as they were.

"Well, about Cloud's alcohol tolerance. He fell into a natural vein of mako a few years ago. It's a miracle he survived. When they found him he was in a coma. For about a year he was a vegetable. It really scared us. Cissnei stayed in the hospital so much that they gave her her own bed. Anyways, he pretty much has a lot of traits that SOLDIERS have because of it."

"I heard about what happened to her. I'm sorry about your sister's death." Zack said with sad eyes. He'd known about that relationship of Cloud's. He'd been to the funeral and the way everyone treated Cloud pretty much gave it away.

"You know I really did join SOLDIER like I swore I would. I was the last first class SOLDIER left when it disbanded." Zack not-so-randomly changed the subject, "It's interesting and disconcerting about Cloud. How high were his mako levels?" Zack started to lean towards Aerith.

"Oh no. The SOLDIER obsession takes over. Zack turns into a total geek whenever SOLDIER is mentioned." Demyx said with rolled eyes.

"Sorry to bore you, oh, honorable Demyx, that the world revolves around!" Zack said, as he too, rolled his eyes.

"They said his mako levels were higher than that of a first class SOLDIER. They had some guy called Genesis train him in dealing with the effects. The guy taught him how to use a sword and hand to hand as well. It comes in handy sometimes, but Cloud's content with living a businessman's life. Don't drag him into your SOLDIER business, Zack, he's happier now than he's ever been. Despite all that's happened he's doing okay. Or maybe, he's at least strong enough to pretend he's okay. Either way, don't ruin it." Aerith responded with a threatening look. It was terrifying when someone as gentle a Aerith got angry or even the littlest bit threatening.

"Well, you're completely right about him being strong enough to pretend. He is one hundred percent faking it. He's gotten so good that he almost convinced me. I know him, though, he's lonely, angry, depressed. It's why he hasn't played in years. He's afraid that that's been taken away, too." Zack said.

"How can you-"Aerith started to confront him, but Zack interrupted her.

"It was nice catching up with you Aerith. Good to meet you Tifa, Karmen, Yuffie. Here's my number. Give me a call next tiem you guys do this? It looks fun. I moved here only a month ago and I still haven't made many friends." Zack smiled a charming smile and started to get out of the booth. Once he was standing he gave an extravagant bow. "My ladies, It was an honor and I had a wonderful time getting to know you, but I must be leaving now." He said, and then proceeded to ruin his suave exit by saying, "Oh and later Demyx."

It was obvious that Zack was on his way to continue ignoring the hell out of Cloud. He especially liked doing so when Cloud was drunk, maybe that was because, on numerous occasions, bothering a drunk Cloud had led to Zack getting laid.

_A/N: Okay so this time I'm leaving my author's note at the bottom. Mainly because I didn't feel like adding it in at the top and risking the entire document being turned into italics when I uploaded it onto fanfiction, as that sometimes happens. I have the mother of all colds, and a killer head ache. My first ever nosebleed was experienced an hour ago because of the mixture of drugs, (legal over the counter cold medications), sneezing, and coughing I have been experiencing. I originally set out today to update __Don't Stand So Far From Me__ but I got sidetracked and ended up rereading and editing this instead. I felt like that I owed somebody somewhere and update, and therefore, here it is. I'm not sure how popular this story is, I haven't been paying much attention to that, but here it is anyways. I'm going to try and update Don't Stand So Far From Me, but my other story, Even Though it Never Looked Like It, is complete. I'm going to write a sequel from third person point of view, but most of the third person is done. I've already begun on that. So yeah, a needless explanation of my vague plans, and my reasons for this pitiful update._


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